“Thank the LORD for good is He,
For His steadfast love endures.
To the God of gods, thanks be,
For His steadfast love endures.
Praises give the King of kings,
For His steadfast love endures.
He alone does wondrous things,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:1-4
Singing Psalm 136, the sheer repetition of the foreverness of God’s mercy reinforces his love and plants it deep in the heart such that no trouble can uproot it. It is this very mercy that shines as light against this dark world and sets itself apart. God's mercy is the good that exposes and destroys the evil that tries as it may to hide in the darkness, but to no avail.
Psalm 136 begins and ends with thanks to God who proves his never ending love for you when you are low in his creation, redemption, compassion, presence, protection, and provision.
Remember God’s creation when you are low
“He with skill has made the skies,
For His steadfast love endures.
From the seas made land arise,
For His steadfast love endures.
He has made great shining lights,
For His steadfast love endures.
Sun rules day; moon, stars rule night,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:5-9
Is there anything more consistent than the rising and setting of the sun that marks each day or the moon that marks the seasons? Oh, and the countless stars? God made those also. Looking out at any ocean and its incessant waves, can you imagine anything that you could stand next to that is larger or more powerful? Yet the Lord made land from the seas and suspended the law of gravity to make a dry runway for his bride to walk through partitions made of water that obediently stood at attention to free his people from oppression. He thought of them when they were low and then commanded the ocean walls to be at ease, swallowing up their enemies who were pursuing them intending to bring them back to a life of slavery.
Israel saw the obstacle of the Red Sea and believed God only after he opened it. God fights for his people and against their enemies. He is faithful in spite of those times when we are faithless.
He still is. His steadfast love endures forever, and singing Psalm 136 reminds you of that never ending truth. Jesus knows what it is to be low. As a lamb before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Jesus thinks of you and is with you when you are low.
Remember God’s redemption when you are low
“Egypt’s firstborn He did smite
For His steadfast love endures.
Brought out Isr’el by His might,
For His steadfast love endures.
He the Red Sea split in two,
For His steadfast love endures.
He made Isr’el pass on through,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:10-14
He drowned Pharaoh and his men
For His steadfast love endures.
Led His own through deserts then,
For His steadfast love endures.
Kings of splendor then he slew,
For His steadfast love endures.
Mighty kings he overthrew:
For His steadfast love endures.
Sihon, king of Amorites,
For His steadfast love endures.
Og, the king of Bashanites;
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:15-20
Singing Psalm 136 you see that anyone who pursues great possessions while opposing God, those things will be taken from him and given to those who will use them to please and glorify God. The Lord makes clear distinctions between his servants whom he made his heirs and those who would annihilate his own to exalt themselves.
"For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!" ~ Job 19:25-27
“He willed Israel their land,
For His steadfast love endures.
As His servant, heirs they stand,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:21-22
When you are low, hang on
Thank you, Lord, for your goodness, your holiness, your happiness, your never ending love that brings the greatest good out of the greatest evil. We mourn evil when we see it within and around us, pray to you to end it, and ask that you help us do all we can to stop it, to look for opportunities to expose it to the gospel of Jesus who rescues both the victims of oppression and the victims of oppressing.
Those who are deceived, trapped, and abused by the evil of those who use their power to satisfy their lusts for pleasure and money will find acceptance and healing only in Christ. Abusers will only find forgiveness and courage only in Christ to turn from evil and advocate for those whom they formerly abused. Thoughts of redemption help you hang on when you are low.
Remember God’s compassion
When you are low, who cares?
Does anyone notice the down and out? Those sad and forlorn? When you’re lacking confidence and enthusiasm? When you’re anxious, weary, and burdened? Who cares about those who are abused several times a day over a span of years?
God does.
But for how long?
Forever.
Then why is my soul so downcast within me?
Because on the surface of things, it looks like the deceivers win. My mind can be preoccupied with and horrified by what enslavers do behind the scenes once it comes out in the open. These things are shameful to speak of never mind think about. Taking your concerns to the Lord in trust, being still before him to fight for what is right is not turning a blind eye. He provides opportunities to help, to end slavery and oppression wherever we see it, to point others to Jesus who is our only hope.
The Lord would have us turn our gaze toward the redeemer, the Lord Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and meditate on his redemptive purpose in everything, even in the most heinous acts. He’ll help us notice and care, pray and act on behalf of those who are low the way we want to be treated when we are low. He’ll finish our faith when it’s no longer needed—when he restores every evil thing not only to take away shame, fully heal, and accept those who were abused in this life, but to arrange it so that they are the ones that have the rule and high honor alongside their loving master who suffered every blow alongside them here. He turns the tables so that right not might wins.
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.” ~ Ephesians 5:6-14
Give thanks to the one where forgiveness is found even for doubting God’s goodness, for trusting the words of the untrustworthy, for those who have been an unwitting party that led to the abuse of others, and even for those willingly participating in actions that lead to the suffering and death of others who could not defend themselves. The Lord does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, but prefers that all would, by his grace, love the truth, come to repentance, and so be saved.
Jesus’ compassion is great. He turns away no one who trusts him desiring to learn from him how to become gentle and lowly in heart. The unscrupulous way we go about trying to get what we think we deserve, what we have coming to us, our piece of the pie, actually results in its being taken away and given to those for whom the Father has prepared them. The unrepentant abuse the compassion of Christ. The meek will inherit the earth from Jesus because it is his, and he has all authority in heaven and on earth from which to give it. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit. Jesus gives it to them without trouble or angst. No one can take it away from them, no matter how hard they try.
My affection for Jesus increases exponentially when I find it difficult to forgive someone or when someone finds it difficult to forgive me. Jesus’ forgiveness cost him his life yet he is ready to extend it to anyone the moment they trust him to give it. He is not reluctant or hesitant, but quick and generous, even lavish in forgiving and then living with us in such a manner that it’s as if we had never sinned, as if we had never caused a breach in our relationship. Just looking at Jesus’ relationship with Peter will melt your heart.
The lowly will inherit the earth and own the kingdom of heaven. The lowly will be resting with Jesus in such peace that they won’t remember their past sufferings. They will have forgiven their abusers the years of torture endured at their hands as they rule from a position of strength with Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth where power is used to serve and love, never more to be used for selfish gain.
Those who would hurt others to help themselves will lose. Those who would lose to help others will gain the whole world as they rule alongside the one they follow with mercy and justice, in truth and love. Only the Lord‘s presence will make this so. Only when Jesus is with you can you hang on when you are low through suffering and trust him that it will end. You will be delivered from it.
He endures every ounce of suffering with his people, and just at the right time, he will rescue you from it. He will render your soul immune to whatever evil your body has endured or is enduring, like Stephen who saw the Lord and forgave his abusers in the midst of being stoned. You will be given a new, immortal body that cannot suffer or die while unrepentant abusers' bodies who reject the Lord Jesus and his merciful grace will be likened to asbestos suits on steroids that will hold up to the flames of hell for all eternity. They will wish for the finality of death after death, but it will escape them as their suffering will never end.
Remember God’s presence and protection when you are low
Those times when I suddenly become unhinged, anxious, or forlorn, I have forgotten that Jesus is right here with me, that he is my life, my all-in-all. It dawned on me that I make room for those feelings when I suffer a momentary lapse in memory.
The fact that Jesus remembers you when you are low is a life-changer. Will you remember him?
“He remembered us when low,
For His steadfast love endures.
Gave deliv’rance from our foe,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:23-24
When you are low, look high
His mercy lasts forever.
His steadfast love endures forever.
Will I look at the horrors I see and condemn God so that I can appear to myself to be in the right, blind to the fact that that same seed of horrors is a part of my sinful nature at war against the Spirit who indwells me?
Or will I trust God that he’s got this? Will I believe that he is good and strong and loving enough to take care of the messes within, the ones I caused, and the ones I see all around me? Even though I can’t see how he’s got this, will I trust that he knows, that he is in full control, and that he can do no wrong but only right all the time? Do you look to those who either don't care or have no power to help?
Is it a small thing to doubt the only good being ever to exist, the one who spoke the world into existence? The one who made humans in his image to humbly walk with him, to depend on him, to act justly, and to love mercy? Those who persist in doubting God will be judged by association with those who oppose him just as Jehu put to death all those who were associated with evil kings (2 Kings 9–10).
Will we live by faith or by sight? Will we throw ourselves at the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, submit our sin to be slaughtered, mortified, and die to ourselves relying on his mercy to get to live with him eternally? Lord, let it be so for all your people.
See how this centurion approached the trouble he saw, and especially note how Jesus responded to him:
When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. ~ Matthew 8:5-13
Jesus doesn’t leave us guessing about what faith looks like and that he expects his people to live by it. Thanks be to him who has power and authority over every atom, cell, and molecule in the universe, over every one of the billions of stars in our galaxy which is one of billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars. Thanks be to infinite Jesus for the merciful and gracious gift of repentance that turns doubt to faith within his finite people. Thanks be to God that we can trust him and that he is worthy of our trust and undying love.
When you are low, you win
How low can you go? Not in base behaviors but in getting your hands dirty advocating for the lowly and thus being lowly yourself as you seek to imitate your master, the Lord Jesus.
There are a few who notice the lowly and the outcast in a crowd. Most choose to hang with the talented ones at the top of their game. And “winners” tend to associate with other “winners.” How incredibly different then that the one who is above all would not only notice but die to save the lowly and least among the nations and then become one of us. He would call us by his name, cherish us as his own, always be with us, and make an everlasting covenant with us as we follow him through death to resurrection life that never ends!
When you are low, give thanks
Let us not fear those who can only kill the body but the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell as well as fully heal and restore those whose bodies and souls were destroyed here on earth. That which nourishes is preserved. Waste ends up in the sewer. Let us give thanks that we can pursue a life that advocates for nourishing life in every relationship. Let’s refuse to see others as mere avenues to elevate ourselves. Let us give thanks that we can reject opportunities that arise to propagate toxic death. Let’s give thanks that we can relate with fellow humans who were made in God’s image. Let us give thanks that we can treat them as we would want to be treated as if we were living in their shoes.
Though it looks like those who delight in unrepentant evil are getting away with it, nothing is hidden from God's sight. He will bring every evil deed to judgment either in Christ, resulting in mercy for the repentant sinner, or in wrath for the unrepentant who refuse to trust in Christ.
Just as small things like neglecting to keep a city clean makes way for heinous crimes, though we cannot perceive how, small kindnesses have a cumulative effect for greater good. How? Give thanks that God has you on his mind when you are low and multiplies his people's efforts when each one does what he or she could.
Remember God’s provision
“He gives food to all that live,
For His steadfast love endures.
Thanks to God of heaven give,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:25-26
Ask for what good you desire in trust and with thanksgiving to the one who both cares and has the ability to help. The Lord delights to provide for you when you are low. Let us look to God alone for the means of grace to do good.
“Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.“ and the servant was healed at that very moment. ~ Matthew 8:13
Jesus turned, and seeing her, he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. ~ Matthew 9:22
Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened. ~ Matthew 9:29-30
Thank the Lord for he is good. He is the object of your faith who gives you himself in the midst of every trial. You have living inside you at all times the peace of God, and even more, the God of peace.
“He alone does wondrous things,
For His steadfast love endures.” ~ Psalm 136:4
References:
Counter Culture: Following Christ in an Anti-Christian Age by David Platt, pp. 109-132
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
July 19-26, 2024
Comments